testant Diffenters taking the oaths, &c. the crime and the pe nalty are abolished by the act of toleration? If this is the fenfe of the commentator, does not his antagonist, fight with a chimera of his own creating? Is not the doctrine he oppofes perfectly confiftent with his own opinion, and that of the noble lord, whose speech he has fubjoined to thefe letters? For he fays:

The SECOND observation I would make is this: That both the crime and penalty of mere Proteftant nonconformity are abolished by the act of toleration, is evident from the protecting clauses of that at: which, in the words of a great lawyer," have not only exempted the Diffenters way of worship from punishment, but rendered it innocent and lawful; have put it, not merely under the connivance, but under the protection of the law, have established it. For nothing can be plainer, than that the law protects nothing in that very refpect, in which it is, at the fame time, in the eye of the law a crime. Diffenters by the act of toleration, therefore, are restored to a legal confideration and capacity." Lord M-'s Speech.

We shall not enter any farther into the merits of this work, as we have already given fome account of the first edition, in a former Number; and our readers, we fuppofe, would not receive either much pleasure or fatisfa&tion from a curfory view of those notes and observations, with which the prefent edi tion is enlarged.

We will venture, however, to obferve, that though there may be in these Letters, as there are perhaps in all controversial writings, misconceptions and logomachies, yet there are many fenfible remarks and liberal fentiments. The Argument of Mr. Justice Fofter, and the Speech of Lord Mansfield, are pieces, with which the curious reader, we make no doubt, will be greatly pleased.

XI. The Hiftory of Sir William Harrington, written fome Years fince, and revised and corrected by the late Mr. Richardson, Author of Sir Charles Grandifon, Clariffa, &r. 4 Vols. 2010. 10s. Sewed. Bell.

THE anonymous editor of this work declares, on his own

knowledge, that it had undergone the revifal of the late Mr. Richardfon. This affertion, however confidently made, has been publicly denied by the family of that diftinguished writer, and as confidently fupported in a reply to their advertisement. To put an end to the controverfy, if the corrections of the celebrated author of Clariffa are ftill vifible on the margin of the original copy, and are difcovered to be of fufficient confequence to raife the reputation of the performance itself, there are many methods of fatisfying the world as to that particular, without divulging the author's name, or fubmitting the manufcript to general infpection. No one, in the mean time, can

doubt,

doubt, but that fuch corrections must have conferred an additional value on any novel whatever, provided they were fufficient in number to affect the main body of it: but, at the fame time, every reader must be equally convinced, that a few marginal alterations in refpect of language only, could operate but flightly in favour of a work which is continued through four volumes duodecimo.

We do not mean to depreciate this performance, by ftating the queftion of its authenticity. We have read it with a great degree of attention and pleasure. Though we cannot abfolutely determine whether it was revifed by the late Mr. Richardson or not, we make no fcruple to affert that its author has been a diligent ftudier of his works. Throughout the whole we meet with few unnatural fituations, or hyperbolical effufions of paflion. Some parts of it are at once interefting and pathetic. The great majority of characters are, however, borrowed from Clariffa. The fplendid vices of Lovelace fhine with a fainter gleam in Sir William Harrington; but his return to virtue, at the conclufion of the story, difcriminates him in fome degree from that too graceful triumpher over the honour of his mistress. In Sir John Renholds, the reader will discover most of the features of Belford; and we cannot look on Loyd, Craven, &c. without thinking on Belton, Mowbray, and Tourville. Lady Julia Harrington is a very Spirited copy from lady G in Sir Charles Grandifon'; and though neither the conduct or language of this novel can be fairly brought into comparifon with thofe of Richardfon's performances, yet that inequality is by no means charged on them as a defect. A work may poffefs an uncommon fhare of merit, and yet appear to difadvantage when placed in oppofition to thofe great originals, which will be fure to receive applaufe as long as any pictures drawn immediately from nature thall maintain a value.

To return a moment to the History of Sir William Harrington, we fincerely recommend it to the perufal of our fair readers. The caufe of honefty is ftrenuously fupported through all its changes. The undeferving part of its dramatis perfonæ are juftly punished, while the meritorious characters are dif miffed to happiness.

XII. Critical Obfervations on the Buildings and Improvements of London. 4to. 2s. 6d. Dodfley.

THIS pamphlet is written with an uncommen degree of tafte, elegance, and humour. Its fubject is a critique on the late improvements made in almost every part of our me

tropolis,

tropolis. We shall not, however, content ourselves with mere general praises of it, but proceed to lay a copious extract before the reader.

Nothing feems more capable of affording fatisfaction to a liberal mind, than the many public improvements of elegance and convenience which have been lately made in this metropolis. Every inhabitant participates of their advantages, and every man of generous feelings fhares in the reputation which his country acquires from them. Perhaps then it is the right of every individual to dif cufs with decent freedom the merits and demerits of public works, and even of private undertakings as far as they relate to public ornament. A difcuffion of this fort may ferve to turn men's attention to thefe fubjects, and be the means of introducing a greater correctnefs of tafte for the future.

:

'I have ever looked upon it as a peculiar happiness, that all public improvements muft among us fpring originally from the fpirit of the people, and not from the will of the prince. In the one cafe, whenever they are fairly begun, they never fail to be carried on with unremitting zeal and activity while in the other, they generally have their beginning and end with the monarch who protects them. Of this laft, a triking example is feen in France. Lewis the XIVth, a prince fond of glory, pompous and enterprifing, who aimed at, and well-nigh obtained for his country, univerfal dominion in the arts and fciences, as well as in arms, was the first of the French monarchs who turned his attention this way. He cut canals, extended public roads, and established regular pofts throughout his kingdom. He regulated the police of his capital, and he added to its commodioufnefs and its decoration, by lighting and a better manner of paving its ftreets. There he ftopt; and there the nation ftopt with him. France, at this day, is juft as far advanced in thofe articles as the was a century ago. To inftance in one of thofe more minute conveniences, which by its frequent ufe becomes of fome importance: their poft chaifes, which were then fo juftly admired, now appear, after the improvements of England, as clumfy and incommodious as the boots of their poftillions. Even the lamps of Paris, which the poets of thofe days compared to the planets themfeves, "pendent from the vault of heaven," are now difcovered, by travellers who have feen the illuminations of London, to be no more than a few scattered tin lanthorns hung by packthread in the middle of narrow and dirty ftreets.

:

But this very national fpirit in England, which, once being put in action, exerts itfelf with fo much vigour and effect, finds however, at firft, a terrible enemy in vulgar prejudice, which muft be overcome before it can fairly act. In an arbitrary state, a prince, a minifter, may have his eyes opened to the errors of a former fyftem, and immediately adopt a new one, without re. ftraint but with the multitude it requires time; they feldom reafon, and it is to their feelings you must apply. Habit fanctifies every thing with them; and even that deformity to which they are accustomed becomes beauty in their eyes. As fine as London upon the bridge, was formerly a proverbial faying in the city and many a ferious fenfible tradefman used to believe that heap of enormities to be one of the feven wonders of the world, and, next to Solomon's temple, the finest thing that ever art produced. When first the reVOL. XXXI. February, 1771. formation

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formation in the streets was begun, from the fame cause every nuï fance had its advocate. It was faid to be for the ease of the horsess that the midway should be paved with huge fhapeless rocks, and the foot path with fharp pebbles for the benefit of the feet. The pofts were defended to the last; and the pulling down of the figns, which choaked up and disgraced the streets, regretted as a barbarous invasion on the monuments of national tafte: the cat and fiddle, goofe and gridiron, and the like, being regarded as the greatest efforts of inventive genius; and Cheapfide often compared to the Medicean gallery, for its choice collection of paintings; blue boars, green dragons, and kings heads.

But though we claim a right, from prefcription, to laugh at the bad taste of our neighbours in the city, I am afraid our pretenfions to fuperiority in the weft end of the town are founded more upon prefumption than truth. We have indeed in the new buildings avoided many of the palpable inconveniences of old London; which precaution, has perhaps bestowed collateral ornament without any primary intention on our parts. But have we fucceeded in displaying a more refined tafte, wherever beauty and elegance were the principal objects in view? To be fatisfied in this, let us examine our fo-much-vaunted squares.

The notion I form to myself of a perfect square, or public place in a city, is a large opening, free and unincumbered, where not only carriages have room to turn and pafs, but even where the people are able to affemble occafionally without confufion. It should appear to open naturally out of the street, for which reafon all the avenues fhould form radii to the centre of the place. The fides or circumference should be built in a ftile above the common; and churches and other public edifices ought to be properly introduced. In the middle there ought to be fome fountain, groupe, or ftatue, railed in within a small compafs, or perhaps only a bafon of water, which, if not so ornamental, ftill, by its utility in cases of fire, &c makes ample amends. To illuftrate this in fome degree, I refer to St. James's fquare, which, though far from perfect in that ftile, and altogether uncompleted on one fide, ftill ftrikes the mind (I judge from my own feelings) with fomething of more eafe and propriety than any fquare in London. You are not confined in your space; your eye takes in the whole compafs at one glance, and the water in the middle feems placed there for ornament and ufe.

But almost every other fquare in London feems formed on a quite different plan; they are gardens, they are parks, they are fheep-walks, in fhort they are every thing but what they fhould be. The rus in urbe is a prepofterous idea at beft; a garden in a street is not lefs abfurd than a street in a garden; and he that wishes to have a row of trees before his door in town, betrays almoft as false a tafte as he that would build a row of houses for an avenue to his feat in the country.

To defcend next to particulars, and obferve in what manner the tafte is aggravated or extenuated in the confequent practice, let us begin with Grofvenor fquare, which is generally held out as a pattern of perfection in its kind. It is doubtlefs fpacious, regular, and well-built; but how is this fpacioufnefs occupied? A clumfy rail, with lumps of brick for piers, to support it, at the distance of every two or three yards, inclofes nearly the whole area, intercepting almost entirely the view of the fides, and leaving the page round it as narrow as moft ftreets, with the additional diadvantage

at night of being totally dark on one hand. The middle is filled up with bushes and dwarf trees, through which a ftatue peeps, like a piece of gilt gingerbread in a green grocer's ftall.

Cavendish fquare next claims our regard: the apparent inten tion here was to excite paftoral ideas in the mind; and this is endeavoured to be effected by cooping up a few frightened fheep within a wooden pailing; which, were it not for their footy fleeces and meagre carcafes, would be more apt to give the idea of a butcher's pen,

- paffimque armenta videbant.

"lautis balare carinis,”

To fee the poor things starting at every coach, and hurrying round and round their narrow bounds, requires a warm imagination indeed, to convert the scene into that of flocks ranging the fields, with all the concomitant ideas of innocence and a pastoral life.

"Some filly fwain, more filly than his fheep,

"Which on the flow'ry plains he used to keep,"

muft have firft conceived the defign; and it might have yet been improved, by a thought taken from one of the moft flagrant perverfions of taste that ever was exhibited to publick view, Staniflaus, titular king of Poland, and little better than imaginary duke of Lorrain, contrived, at his fine palace of Luneville, in one of the richest and most delightful countries in Europe, full of real paftoral objects and ruftick images, to degrade them by sticking up clockwork mills, wooden cows, and canvass milk-maids, all over his grounds; to the no small admiration of the Lorrainers, an honest race, better fitted for the enjoyments of a mild and equitable government, than for the relish of works of tafte. Now, however i diculous this might appear in the park at Luneville, it is a precious thought for Cavendish fquare. Imitation here would appear with greater propriety than nature itself. I would therefore recommend it to the next defigner of country-in-town, to let all his fheep be painted. And I think if a paste-board mill, and tin cascade, were to be added it would complete the rural scene.

As to Hanover fquare, I do not know what to make of it. It is neither open nor inclofed. Every convenience is railed out, and every nuifance railed in. Carriages have a narrow ill-paved street to pafs round in, and the middle has the air of a cow-yard, where blackguards affemble in the winter, to play at hufsle-cap, up to the ancles in dirt. This is the more to be regretted, as the fquare in queftion is fufceptible of improvement at a fmall expence. The buildings are neat and uniform. The ftreet from Oxford road falls with a gentle defcent into the middle of the upper fide, while, right oppofite, George ftreet retires, converging to a point, which has a very picturefque effect; and the portico of St. George's church, feen in profile, enriches and beautifies the whole.

Red Lion fquare, elegantly so called, doubtless, from fome alehoufe formerly at the corner, has a very different effect on the mind. It does not make us laugh; but it makes us cry. I am fure, I never go into it without thinking of my latter end. The rough fod that "heaves in many a mouldering heap," the dreary length of the fides, with the four watch-houfes, like fo many family vaults, at the corners, and the naked obelisk that fprings from amidft the rank grafs, like the fad monument of a difconfolate widow for the lofs of her first husband, form, all together, a memento mori, more powerful to me than a death's head and crofs marrow-bones and were but the parfon's bull to be feen bellowing at the gate, the idea of a country church yard in my mind would be complete.'

M.2

The